I’m about to study for two IT certifications and I find it hard to study on my own. What are some practices and techniques you guys use?
I’m about to study for two IT certifications and I find it hard to study on my own. What are some practices and techniques you guys use?
When I studied to become a Radio Officer (Marine, not Navy) I joined a Radar Maintenance class with six guys from various parts of India.
They added a new page to my ‘technique’. I visited them and saw all their notes plastered on their walls. They didn’t sit and revise - they walked around and stared at the walls… it was amazing.
So first of all, we’d do a class - maybe a couple of hours - where I’d mark diagrams (using colours) and take notes (also using highlighters to mark important sections of printed notes).
After the class, during break, I’d spend the first five minutes just scanning over the whole class one time.
When I got home later, I’d go over it again for about 15 minutes and basically blu-tac them onto the walls. Then I’d scan across the older notes.
Within a week of scanning them, I could basically scan from further away until I could remember most of what was on them without being close enough to read them.
When I was sure I’d internalised a sheet, I could take it down and stick it in my folder.
The hardest subjects are the most boring, and often least relevant, parts of the course. I think I must have put in 80% of my efforts into less than 10% of the actual coursework.
As a testament to how well this worked, I remember learning hundreds of ‘Q’ codes. If you randomly throw one up at me, I’ll remember every detail…
Stuff I remember learning iin 1984, like
QRA
- Q: What is the name of your vessel/station? orQRK
for 'What is the readability of my signals?` with answers rated from 1 to 5.I never went to sea - so I never used this stuff after I finished College (Margarette Thatcher put the plug on that) but it’s all there.